The xylem anatomical characteristics of woody plants are closely related to water transport and drought adaptation strategies. However, the research on the commonly used tree species in the hilly areas of North China is still insufficient. In order to study the relationship between xylem anatomical characteristics and drought resistance, this paper takes the common tree species in North hina as the research object, 10 tree species were classified into drought-resistant tree species and non-drought-resistant tree species. By measuring the xylem cross section vessel, a large number of anatomical properties related to parenchyma, non-structural carbon concentration, the differences of anatomical characteristics of xylem and the relationship between anatomical characters of the two types of tree species were compared to explore the differences of hydraulic drought adaptation strategies of these species. The results showed that: 1) all 16 xylem characters of 10 species showed great variability. 2) There was no significant difference in the mean vessel diameter and the vessel density between the two groups, but the vessel wall thickness, the maximum vessel diameter and others of drought-resistant tree species were significantly higher than those of non-drought-resistant tree species. 3) There was a significantly positive correlation between the vessel wall thickness and the mean vessel diameter, the maximum vessel diameter and the potential hydraulic conductance of drought-resistant tree species, and a significantly positive correlation between the maximum vessel diameter and the potential hydraulic conductance, however, these relationships did not exist in non-drought-resistant tree species. Drought-resistant tree species have large maximum vessel diameter and vessel wall thickness at the same time, which not only ensure higher water transport efficiency, but also have certain anti-embolism ability. More paratracheal parenchyma and the non-structural carbohydrate(NSC) also provide greater xylem water storage and refilling of embolism capacity for the drought-resistant tree species.